(Abstract with IA podcast summary) Many educational institutions and experts have raised the alarm on the observation that social media use is dangerous for young people’s well-being and mental health. However, existing reviews on this issue do not provide definite answers that address the problems of causality and heterogeneity in social media use. This paper selects, reviews and discusses empirical studies that more rigorously analyze causality in the field using large samples and objective data over long stretches of time,…

A Global Symposium Co-hosted by Dartmouth and the United Nations Development Programme.
Dartmouth and the United Nations Development Programme are proud to host a three-day symposium bringing together leading experts, senior policymakers, and youth advocates to examine the global decline in youth well-being and its implications for development in an era of rapid societal transformation.
Speakers and Panelists: David Blanchflower, Jonathan Haidt, Jean Twenge, Andrew Clark, Robert Putnam and Maurizio Pugno (among others).

The registration of Maurizio Pugno's speech is here at minute…

Economic development requires endogenous novelties, according to evolutionary economics. To find the endogenous source of novelties, we focus on the creativity of ordinary people when they craft their life path. We argue that such ‘life creativity’ is endogenous to the economic system because it is a typical capability of human beings, because it is intrinsically motivated, thus directly yielding well-being, and because it can be developed with better economic conditions. The paper first introduces the insights of three pioneers of…

Does growth of advanced economies lead to human development, i.e., the development of those capabilities that most distinguish human beings? Are improvements of well-being thus guaranteed?

The half-century decline of well-being (both subjective and objective) in the United States suggests a pessimistic stance, aggravated by the recent pandemic and war.

Well-being and Growth in Advanced Economies argues with theory and facts that economic growth can surprisingly bring ill-being to people because it erodes their Fundamental Human Development (FHD) when market forces are…

Recent evidence shows that social media use has negative effects on well-being of children and youths. However, the underlying reasons are unclear, as social media are means that can also serve beneficial purposes. We propose the hypothesis that social media induce users to harmful addiction of a new variety because such use is not toxic per se but becomes toxic by crowding out beneficial activities. We identify, in particular, the key mechanism in the change of time preference: While social…